As the main air transport gateway to the Niagara Falls region, the Buffalo Niagara International Airport serves the second-largest metropolitan area in New York State. The facility unites the represented airlines in one efficient structure, replacing two existing terminals.
Recalling familiar images of air travel and aviation technology, the airport design attempts to represent the ground-air relationship fundamental to the sensation of flight. Consistent with architectural themes first introduced in the design of modern airport structures in the 1960s, the aesthetic employed in the design of the three-part structure conveys this relationship in essential dualities of heavy versus light, static versus dynamic, solid versus void. The terminal’s changing massing and sectional characteristics reflect the process of spatial compression and expansion inherent to jet travel: distance contracts, boundaries of experience extend, time constantly shifts. The arrivals-departures hall establishes the architectural vocabulary for the entire facility as the fullest expression of the ground-air dialogue
